


Four Door Sedan

by Tangerine



Category: X-Men: The Animated Series
Genre: Driving, Gen, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-16 16:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16957293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine/pseuds/Tangerine
Summary: Wolverine teaches Jubilee to drive, with varying levels of success.





	Four Door Sedan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).



It was shaping up to be a perfect Saturday night. Logan had a cooler of beer at his feet, a bowl of fresh-made popcorn on his lap and a Cajun who had promised to keep his trap shut between commercial breaks. What he hadn't counted on was Jubilee, who kept stepping in front of the flipping screen. 

"Kid, you make a better door than a window," he growled.

Remy chuckled. "Braver than me, petite, getting in between Wolverine and the Battle of Alberta."

Jubilee sighed deeply, but he had to give the kid credit. She moved, plopping down in the middle of the couch and crossing her arms. "Who cares about stupid hockey anyway?" she muttered mutinously.

"Kid," Logan warned her, and she sighed again. 

Logan focussed on the game, finishing one beer then cracking another. Both teams seemed more keen to fight than to play, which was fine by him after the week he'd had. He swore when Nieuwendyk missed a wide open net, beer sloshing from the bottle and all over his hand. He swore again, because _beer_ , and just barely stopped himself from licking at his wrists, trying to save every drop. 

~~

"You got two minutes," Logan said once the TV timeout started. "Make it good."

"I need someone to teach me to drive. By someone, I mean you. _Please_ , Wolverine."

Logan yanked the bowl of popcorn out of Remy's thieving hands. "Are you even old enough?"

"I'm fifteen," Jubilee protested, which one, Logan knew, and two, didn't answer the blasted question. "Come on," she added, "I need to know this. What if the Phalanx attacks again and I gotta drive away to escape like Beast did? I'd be toast. Or, like, if the Sentinels attack! Running away on foot didn't help last time." As a last ditch attempt, she turned her attention to Remy. "Help a girl out here, Gambit." 

Remy smirked, holding up his hands. "Sorry, petite, gon' agree with Wolverine. Last Gambit checked, it's sixteen for a learner's permit in the state of New York. And X-Men always follow the rules, non?"

Logan rolled his eyes. Frigging Cajun, playing both sides of the fence, as usual. 

"Oh my god, you only have to be fourteen in Arkansas. I'm practically ancient compared to that!"

"We ain't in Arkansas, kid."

Jubilee opened her mouth to protest, but then the game snapped back on. She slumped on the couch, pouting, and Logan passed her the bowl of popcorn. Over her head, Remy lifted an eyebrow, still smirking, and Logan glared at him. He didn't need any encouragement. He already knew his answer.

The fact was Jubilee needed life skills, and the more she had, the less Logan would worry about her. That was the theory. Sometimes, it kept him up at night, worrying about all the ways life could come at her. It was hard enough just growing up, but doing it as a young mutant... he'd do what he could for her. 

"Bright and early tomorrow," he said gruffly. "Eat your Wheaties then come find me in the garage."

"You're the best, Wolverine," Jubilee told him, hugging his arm, almost spilling his beer. "I'll even let you tell all the dad jokes you want to with, like, zero comments from me. This is gonna be great!"

"I don't tell dad jokes," he growled and ignored their laughter in favour of the game. 

~~

Wolverine looked up as Jubilee marched into the garage. With a whoop, she swung herself into the front seat of his brand new jeep – which was identical to his old one, because Hank had wrecked his baby trying to out-drive the blasted Phalanx – and slapped her hands down onto the steering wheel.

"Wrong car, kid. We're taking Cyclops's sedan."

"But it's so uncool," Jubilee moaned. 

"It's got a five-star safety rating, _and_ I ain't the one who owns it." Logan jerked his thumb in the direction of Cyclops's four door sedan, and Jubilee dragged herself into the driver seat, glaring at him. "Don't push it, kid. But if – and this is a strong _if_ – you do okay with an automatic transmission, maybe someday I'll teach you how to drive stick. Until then, we start with the basics."

Jubilee sighed deeply. "Fine." 

Logan climbed into the passenger seat. "Did you check the tires?" he asked, buckling up.

"For what?" Jubilee asked, tilting her head out the window. "Did you slash them or something?"

"Guess you'll have to get out and check." 

"You are the worst," Jubilee told him. He watched in the side mirror as she stomped around the car, making a big production of checking the tire pressure, and he chuckled to himself. "Okay," she announced, jumping back into the driver's seat, "all four tires are good to go. Let's do this!"

"Adjust your mirrors," he told her. 

"Ugh, fine," she said. 

"And your seat."

"I hate you," Jubilee muttered, reaching under the chair and dragging it forward. 

~~

Once Logan was satisfied that Jubilee was ready – seat-belt on, hands at ten and two, with a healthy number of repetitions of _gas pedal on the right, brake on the left_ – they inched out of the garage. Logan wasn't a praying man, but if he was, at that moment, he would have been begging for salvation. 

"Great," he ground out as the sedan lurched onto the driveway. "Don't be afraid to let it go a bit."

They shot out like a bullet, narrowly missing a row of the Professor's prized rose bushes. Logan slapped his hand on the dashboard, bracing himself for the inevitable stop. It was just as well that she'd asked him, he thought, as she braked abruptly, sending him forward in his seat. If anyone else went through the windshield, they'd be feeling it for weeks. The dashboard groaned under his sudden weight. 

Jubilee frowned. "Is this good for Cyclops's car?"

"Nope," Logan confirmed. 

~~

After ten minutes of starting and stopping, Jubilee finally made a smooth loop around the driveway without harming anything, human or otherwise. Logan thought he might've had a mild case of whiplash, but he'd live. Remy sat on the stairs up to the main entrance, watching them with a smile. 

"The kid doesn't need an audience, Cajun," he shouted out the window.

"Is it okay if I watch, petite?" Remy asked, ignoring him. "Gambit's hoping he'll learn a thing or two."

"Just don't make fun of me," she replied, hands tight around the steering wheel, knuckles white. Logan could smell the fear on her, but he had to give her credit. She wasn't giving up, and she hadn't cried mercy, even if she was scared. She was an X-Man through and through. "This is harder than it looks!"

"You're doing fine, kid," Logan assured her, patting her on the shoulder. "And if you accidentally hit Gumbo, don't worry about it. Sh... _stuff_ happens. Nobody'll miss him too much. Isn't that right, Cajun?"

Remy put a hand on his chest, over his heart. "Ah, you wound me, Wolverine." 

"If you dorks are done," Jubilee said, "I have a car to drive."

~~

They eventually made it out onto the back roads around the mansion, driving twenty below the speed limit. The roads were fully paved – more or less, since it turned out paying out your eyeballs in property taxes didn't improve road conditions much, as far as Logan could tell – and, more importantly, nobody but the X-Men ever used them. 

"We should go to New Salem Mall," she suggested, bouncing in her seat. "Back where it all started!"

"Eyes on the road, kid," Logan reminded her. "And you're still a long way from driving in public."

" _Wolverine_ ," Jubilee protested, but he just shook his head. "Okay, fine, but someday I'm gonna take us out to get, like, dinner or something, and you're gonna be so impressed with my amazing skills."

"If you're expecting me to pay, we're gonna end up at the Quick Food." 

"Works for me," Jubilee assured him. "Hey, what do all these lights mean?"

Logan took a quick glance at the dashboard, which was lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Nothing good," Logan said.

~~

A quick thought back to the Mansion – Jean responded immediately, even though Logan knew she always spent Sunday mornings hiding in bed with a book – and Rogue showed up five minutes later.

"I got this, sugar," Rogue assured him, picking up Cyclops's car and hoisting it over her shoulder. "Do y'all need a lift back to the Mansion? Cyke ain't mad or nothing about the car, so don't you worry."

"I wasn't," Logan told her. 

"I ain't talking to you," Rogue replied sweetly. Jubilee looked up, morose. Rogue grinned. "Come on, hop in. I'll tell y'all about the first time I went four-wheeling and ended up ass over tea kettle in my neighbour's swimming pool. It's practically a rite of passage to fail the first time. You just gotta get up and try again until you get it."

Jubilee stood up and walked toward the car. "You're way better at inspirational talks than Wolverine is."

Logan growled, but the kid was right. He'd never had much use for words. But actions, those he was happy to offer whenever needed. Jubilee climbed into the sedan, in the backseat, and hung over the passenger headrest as Logan settled in. She grinned widely in his face, big and bright and happy.

"Thanks, Wolvie," she said. 

"You're welcome, darlin'. Next time, maybe we'll try my jeep. At least I know my baby's reliable."

Jubilee fist pumped, whooping loudly, and Logan smiled to himself. 

There were always worse ways to spend a weekend, like Sentinels or watching the Oilers win.


End file.
